January 2024

Jan. 30th - Informational Levy/Bond Presentation 

(Library 5:15 - 6:15PM)

Feb. 2nd - Semester Break Day (No School)

Feb. 6th - Shadle Park HS Incoming Freshmen Parent Night (6PM)

Feb.13th - Election Day (Levy/Bond Voting)

Feb. 15th - Rogers HS Incoming Freshmen Parent Night (6PM)

Feb. 22nd - Spokane Garry MS 6th Grade Registration

Information Session (6PM)

January 9th was National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day and I’d like to personally thank Garry’s Campus Safety Specialist, Mr. Bill Decaro. Bill spends the day working with students and staff to solve conflicts between people to keep issues small before they become big. He’s often seen walking around the building talking with students and helping them make good life choices. Our school is also lucky to have Mr. Decaro take on coaching responsibilities in baseball, softball, and wrestling. Mr. Decaro has been at our school for several years because he appreciates the Garry students, staff, and community!

In addition, let’s give a huge SHOUT OUT to all law enforcement officials across the nation who serve to protect its citizens. Every day they do one of the toughest jobs in America by putting themselves in harm’s way to solve conflicts brought on by people’s poor choices. Let’s not make this a thankless job, but let our law enforcement officials know that they are respected and supported by the American people!

On Friday January 12th, Garry Middle School students gathered together for the Martin Luther King Jr. Assembly. Guest speaker Randy Moore came to speak to the students about the challenges he has faced in his life as a person of color and how he overcame them.

Election Day is coming up on February 13th. Parents and guardians, as role models, please vote and show our Garry teenagers how to participate in this democratic process. One item of many on the ballot has to do with the school district levy and bond. Find out more facts about the levy and bond here including one video specifically about Spokane Garry Middle School:

Garry specific:  Spokane Public Schools 2024 Bond: Garry Middle School Modernization and Addition (youtube.com)

Districtwide: bit.ly/2024Bond

As the new calendar year begins, we are entering the season to start planning for the 2024-25 school year. 

Current Spokane Garry Middle School 6th & 7th grade students will be registering for their 7th & 8th grade classes, respectively. During the first couple of weeks in February, students will participate in Advisory lessons to preview class offerings and fill out their registration forms to sign up for classes for the 2024-25 school year. 

Spokane Garry registration information will be available on the school’s website. Current 8th graders will be working with Spokane Garry grade level counselors and counselors from their move-up high school to register for their 9th grade classes. Shadle Park High school will be having an Incoming Freshmen Parent Night on Tuesday, February 6, 2024, in the Shadle Park theater at 6pm. John R. Rogers High School will have their Incoming Freshmen Parent Night on Thursday, February 15, 2024, at 6pm at John R. Rogers HS.

Spokane Garry Middle School will also be working with Arlington, Whitman, and Lidgerwood Elementary to help current 5th graders register and transition to 6th grade during the month of February. 

Incoming 6th grade students and families are encouraged to attend a registration information session here at Garry Middle School on Thursday, February 22nd, from 6:00 - 7:00 pm.

Can you believe we are already focusing on registration for the 2024-2025 school year? As parents and guardians, it can be a challenge to understand what is happening during this time since most of the registration process happens at school. I wanted to take a little time to dive into some of the topics parents often wonder about.  

Incoming 6th grade families – What an exciting and often scary time for many families! Your students are going to start talking about move-up before long. We will have an Incoming 6th Grade Family Night on February 22nd from 6:00 to 7:00 pm. We are so excited to meet you and talk about what we do here at Garry. You can expect to see a registration form that night. For families whose students have an IEP or a 504, you can expect your school team to start having move-up meetings with a team from Garry to plan how to best serve your student in a new school environment. You can follow a link to our Special Education Newsletter here to learn more about your rights in the move-up process. 

Current 6th and 7th grade families moving up – Your student will receive all the information needed to register for next year’s classes in their advisory class. Now is a great time to talk to them about choosing electives that will prepare them for what they want to do in high school and beyond. If you have questions or concerns about the process, you can reach out to the school at any time.

Outgoing 8th grade families – We are so excited for the next step in your student’s academic journey! Your students should have already had an opportunity to be a “Pirate for a Day” and spend the day at Rogers. Most of our students will be going to Rogers for high school, but all our high schools will have Incoming 9th Grade family nights. Keep an eye out for an invitation very soon. You can expect students to fill out their registration forms here at school, so it is a good idea to have conversations about what graduation pathway they want to take, and which electives are best to get them to their post-secondary goals. 

I will call all of our incoming and outgoing families starting in February to check-in. I am happy to help answer any questions or concerns at that time. I am also available by phone or email if you would like to reach out in the meantime.  

Devony Audet

Family Engagement Coordinator

DevonyA@SpokaneSchools.org

(509)354-5170

Have you seen the Big Blue Bin in the parking lot?

Northwest Center's Big Blue Truck is excited to announce our partnership with Spokane Garry Middle School offering families a sustainable way to donate their unused clothing and cloth items. We are committed to making this partnership a success, and we appreciate your involvement.

For more details on what can be donated, click here.

Miranda Adair

CIS Community in Schools

MirandaA@spokaneschools.org

354-5132

Raven Circle is back from break! Our main update is that we are asking all parents to pick up their students from the central side of the school. There is a parking lot by the tennis courts and spaces to pick up by the bus stop. Students will leave the GCC at 5:15 when Raven Circle is over. 

We have Gonzaga programing starting back up on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. If you have any questions feel free to email me at torisc1@spokaneschools.org.

Thanks! 

Tori Schauer 

21st CCLC Student Support Coordinator 

125W 

Starting in February the Positive Behavior Support team will be working with students, staff, and families to support students in utilizing their planners. The goal is to help students increase organization and work completion. 

We will be celebrating each week when students complete their planner for each period. We ask that they take it home to reference so they can finish assignments and stay on track while in middle school.



We are asking for parents and guardians to support us in this focus for February.

1. Check your student's planner nightly, even if they say they have no homework. If you are not home, check over the phone after school or have them show you a picture of it via a screenshot if possible. Our goal is to increase engagement on the planner, work completion, prioritize their education, and help support your student's work towards this monthly goal.
2. Communicate with them, review upcoming events, and put them in the planner (family events, community events, special celebrations) to connect with real-life events.
3. Connect completion of their planner for each period to a positive incentive at home and specific praise to help your child see that success in organization skills brings more opportunities and earned time/positive incentives to celebrate when they get their "to do's" done. The incentive does NOT need to cost money. 
4. Encourage, do not lecture.  Focus on the "why" of organization and setting/meeting goals, as this is a critical skill for all students.

January: Responsibility

Being accountable, the pursuit of excellence, and the exercise of self-control.

February: Compassion

Students of the Month

December- Selflessness

Mr. James

Mr. Chang

7th Grade Basketball

First games of the season will be on January 24th!

The boys team will play at Garry, while the girls team will play at Shaw. Both games start at 4:15 pm.

Let's go Ravens!

Upcoming Winter Sports

• 8th Grade Boys Basketball - Starts February 12th
• 8th Grade Girls Basketball - Starts February 12th
• 7th & 8th Grade Wrestling - Starts February 12th

What do you love about your job?

I love being able interact with so many different people! Whether it’s with the teacher that I get to support in their classroom, or the students I get to work with and watch them discover new things. It’s always something new everyday and it helps keep me on my toes! It’s incredible how much I’ve learned from the students and staff here. 

How do you like to spend your time when you’re not at work?

You can find me out in the mountains hiking/searching for a place to set up my hammock to relax from the world. Snow, rain, sun, doesn’t matter, I’ll find a place to get comfy and set up camp for a weekend. During the week I prefer to spend my time nesting in my bean bag chair, catching up on shows or movies I haven’t seen yet while crocheting! I find a lot of joy in creating things with the help of my imagination… and a YouTube tutorial or 2 if I’m struggling with a concept.

Where is the coolest place you’ve traveled to?

PUERTO RICO!!! OOOOHHH! PUERTO RICOOOOO! Oh my, let me tell you about the beauty of La Isla del Encanto! The Caribbean has many breath-taking sites! If there are any Lord of the Rings fans, many of the caves they explore in the movie are actual places in PR. PR is also home to 3! Count ‘em 3 out 20 Bioluminescent bays in the world. You can go swimming in those bays at night & the water will glow around you. How cool is that!?

Is there one thing you’ve dreamed of doing for a long time?

I’ve always dreamed of being able to have my very own Esports café. There have been so many people from across the globe that have been able to represent their nation through the Fighting Game Community and usher in so much beautiful representation. MonoPR is a Boricua professional Street Fighter player I got to meet a few years ago. It was incredible not only being able to play against him, but to hear about how he used his tournament winnings to create his own gaming café where he and his community can gather and support one another, while sharing an amazing passion! Another inspiration for this dream is Arslan Ash. He managed to dethrone almost every Tekken EVO champ and win 4 EVO titles back-to-back onto top of the last Tekken World Tour! He used his earnings to make gaming in Pakistan way more accessible. 

The Lost and Found is located in the Student Office.

During the last week of each month the lost and found items will be put on display in the cafeteria for to students to look through.

Any items not claimed by the end of the week will be donated.

InvestED provides middle and high schools with funds to assist promising young people. Plus, they provide schools with tools to boost fundraising in local communities. Join nearly 700 secondary schools across Washington and partner with InvestED!

To learn more about InvestED click here.

Visit the Spokane Garry Facebook Page and the Spokane Garry YouTube Channel for more updates and information!